AUTHOR'S NOTE: Avery's outfit for the day can be found on Polyvore. My polyvore link is up on my profile :)

Avery can feel herself mumbling- nose twitching- as something light and feathery runs up and down the bridge of her nose. Her brain is trying to kick-start her awake but from last night's activities of dancing and running around with her friends, her body is unwilling to move an inch.

A feminine giggle registers in her ears before a deep, yet soft, chuckle sounds next.

"Leave her alone. She seems like the type to lash out when awoken." The deep voice muses.

The feminine one giggles again. "I can't help it. It's been years since I've been able to tease someone like this."

The voices stop and just when Avery doesn't care about hearing voices anymore, her mind starts to catch up on relaxation with her body and starts to drift off once more. Just before she can enter dreamland, a tickle prickles at her nostrils and she violently sneezes herself awake.

Groaning at the jolt of awareness that has been shot through her body, Avery blinks sleepily before sitting up scanning her room for the culprit. And sure enough, there's two of them.

Derek and Cora Hale.

Derek is sitting in her desk chair which has been propped against the wall near her window and Cora is sitting at the edge of her bed- twirling a black feather in her fingers. Chest shaking with silent laughter, Cora picks up something from the bed before pointing it and Avery and snapping a picture. Seconds later, Avery realizes it's Cora's phone.

"What are you doing here?" Avery yawns before letting herself fall back into her pillows. "And how did you get into my room?"

"Your Dad let me up on his way to work." Cora shrugs with a grin. "And Derek climbed in through the window. Nice haircut, by the way."

Avery shakes her head in amusement before opening her eyes and staring at Derek whose eyes are darting all around her face. "You look like you had a good time last night?" He tells her.

"I did. You two missed one hell of a party." Avery yawns yet again. "I tried calling you two plus Peter but I couldn't get a hold of any of you."

"Peter?" Derek's eyebrows draw together. "You mean our Uncle didn't stay in Beacon Hills?"

"Nope." Avery shakes her head. "Disappeared after the Darach fiasco. I figured he left with you."

Derek and Cora share a brief look before both Hales frown and shrugged. "He didn't." Cora tells her. "Probably skipped town now that there's not a Pack for him to join."

"But Scott-"

"Was Peter's beta." Derek cut her off. "He tormented Scott by taking his Mom out on a date. I really doubt Scott wants Peter in his pack and I'm pretty sure Peter would have never asked to join."

After a brief discussion on whether or not she should worry about Peter- and Derek telling her that Peter wouldn't be a problem- Avery scratches at her eyebrow only to come away with black and white paint chips on the tips of her fingers. Brows furrowing in confusing, Avery brushed her finger tips along her face and when she felt the strange texture of her skin- she realized what it was.

"I didn't wash off my face paint, did I?"

"Nope." Cora happily popped the 'p' of her word. "What'd you do, dress up as a skeleton?"

"Not really." Avery answered as she moved to get out of bed, glad that she changed into modest sleeping shorts and tank top before crashing out the previous night. As she stumbled over to her dresser, she explained more to Cora. "It was a masquerade ball. Fancy suits, dresses, masks, and music. Nik and Elijah had some booths set up and towards the end of the night, Stiles and I had our faces painted." She grabbed a stack of long strips- the pictures from the photo booths- from her dresser top before depositing them on the bed in front of Cora. "You guys gonna stick around? I need to shower."

"Yeah." Derek tells her just as Cora hands over the pictures to him that she's already looked at. "We'll be here when you get out."

..

..

After Avery gathered up some clothes for her shower, she sleepily made her way out in the hall and into the bathroom to wash the night's filth away. She would have done so the previous night but given how worn out she felt, she changed into pajamas and fell directly into bed. Her shower would have lasted as long as her usual showers but given the fact she had to scrub and scrub to get the paint off her face, it took a little while longer than normal.

When she was finally dressed in faded ripped skinny jeans and a long-sleeved striped scoop neck shirt, Avery padded her way back into her room while towel drying her hair.

"Feeling refreshed?" Derek mused.

"Oh yeah." She sighed contently before moving to sit at the edge of her bed where Cora was still seated. "So what's up? What'd you sneak into my room for?"

Derek shook his head, staying tight-lipped as he shrugged and Cora rolled her eyes. "He wants to know how everyone's doing? He won't say it now but he's worried about this permanent darkness business."

Avery's amused grin immediately falters and the two Hales easily pick up on her mood change. Suddenly finding the fringe of the rips in her jeans fascinating, Avery avoids any and all eye contact. "They're, uh, they're okay. Scott seemed to get a handle of it pretty quickly so yeah, there's that."

Avery trails off, picking at the fringe as Cora lays a hand atop her own- stalling her. "And your brother? What about Allison?"

"Slightly.. less better." Avery then admitted. "Stiles and Allison pushed us away. They retreated into themselves and it took a good talking to plus some bonding time to make sure they don't do it again." She shrugged nonchalantly. "But you never know, it could happen again and let me tell you.. it wasn't pretty."

Derek sighs, opens his mouth to retort but the sudden banging of Avery's bedroom door slamming open startles them all. "Will you shutup?!" Stiles grumbles, still half asleep in an overly large gray shirt hanging off his lithe frame as well as red plaid pajama pants. He has flecks of paint still lingering on his face but from the looks of it, he actually attempted to scrub it all off the night before. "I'm trying to sleep!"

Cora stifles her giggles while Derek sits up just a little bit straighter, an amused smirk playing across his lips. "Hey there, Stiles. Rough night?"

Stiles blinks rapidly to clear his vision before his realizes who it was who just spoke. "Sourwolf." He acknowledges with a nod though his brows pull together in confusion. "Cora." He then nods at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Being a pain in my ass." Avery answers as she immediately stood and pranced into her closet, finding a pair of suitable shoes and slipping them on- converse shoes which lace up to beneath her knee. "But since we were being too loud, I think I'll take them out. There's some people who want to meet the infamous Hales."

Cora and Derek tense, Stiles' eyebrows furrowing once more before he grins with a snort. "Tell Nik I said Hi." He sleepily chuckles. "And I'm sorry for puking in the apple tub."

Avery laughs as she finds a necklace suitable to her attire- a superman pendant- before slipping it on with a smirk. "Got it, boss. Anything else?"

"Yeah. Bring me some food. I'll heat it up later."

"Mhm. Come on, Hales. We got some Originals to meet." Avery gestures for them to follow. "Please tell me you brought your car and didn't run here?"

"Car's outside." Cora chirps after relaxing as she drags her brother behind her. "Just lead the way."

Derek grumbles the entire way, asking why he had to meet these brothers but all Avery did was hush him and told him it's better to get the meeting out of the way now. She assured him they just wanted to meet them, that there was nothing dangerous about the meeting and for him to relax.

..

..

Derek had actually let Avery drive his vehicle while he took the passenger seat and they made Cora sit in the back. Classic rock softly filtered through the car's speakers as Avery drove- her gaze every now and then darting down to her phone in her lap as she typed out a few text messages. After Derek witnessed her attention darting to her phone for the third time, he swiped her phone and told her to pay attention to the road.

Avery had huffed, ready to argue that she was capable of multi-tasking but that only ended up in earning her a lecture about texting and driving, and it's consequences.

The nearer they drew to the Reynolds' residence, Avery could see Derek perking up in his seat and becoming more alert to his surroundings. And when the house finally came into view, and Avery pulled into the drive-way, Derek finally voiced his thoughts.

"When did this house get here?"

"They started building when they figured out I wanted to live here." Avery grinned. "Being them, they had the best construction team out here and got the house done days before they showed up."

All along the drive-way, there was a person at each stone pillar on a step ladder taking down the jack-o-lanterns. When Avery finally parked- each of them getting out and staring up at the home- there were several other strangers lingering about as they pulled down the fake spider web from archways and hedges. Before they could take a step closer, Avery quickly told them that Nik and Elijah might offer them some expensive gift or offer to take them to an expensive dinner. She told them it was better to accept it than having a pestering Original breathing down their back.

Before Derek could ask why they would be offered anything, Cora cut him off. "Are you sure they're here?" She muttered as she looked up in hidden awe of the home.

Avery nodded. "Yep. They're inside. It was Nik I was texting before your brute of a brother stole my phone."

Derek shoved at Avery's shoulder in a playful manner, his actions shocking himself. While Avery and Cora saw nothing wrong with it, Derek couldn't believe he was falling back into his old ways of being the teasing older brother.

After the fire that took majority of his family- he'd been angry at the Argents and angry at the world. Then his sister Laura left the safety of their home they made in New York only to come back to Beacon Hills were she was slaughtered by their own Uncle. He had been so angry for the longest time that he never thought he'd be able to find his way back.

And now the world threw back at him his little sister who he believed to be dead and yet another Stilinski- this one in female form- and he found himself falling easily into the big brother role who liked to tease and rough-house with his siblings.

By the time Derek re-registered his surroundings, he found himself standing inside a very sophisticated and elegant home. Two men stood across from them- smirking and smiling politely over at them- and he could feel the power emanating from the two Originals wash over him. From his peripheral vision, he could see Cora shiver from the power.

"At last we meet." Elijah smiled. "It's nice to finally put a face to the Hale siblings."

Cora sheepishly smiled but let her brother do all the talking. "I would say 'same here' but then I'd be lying." Derek managed a twitch of his lips. "Avery's showed us so many pictures and told us so many stories. You're Elijah, correct?"

"Indeed, he is." Nik drawled. "Since you know us and we know you- hungry?" He quirked an eyebrow at them in a questioning manner. "We have pizza and chinese- because my dearest brother refuses to eat pizza with his hands- on the way."

Cora looked to her brother to see what he wanted to do but when all he did was offer her a shrug, she turned back to Elijah and Nik with a smile. "I could really go for some chinese if it's not too much trouble."

"Nonsense." Nik waved her words off, stepping forward and offering his elbow as a gentleman should. "Come along, Little Wolf. I'll show you to the kitchen."

Avery nudged Cora in front of her, stifling her giggles before elbowing Derek in his side as way to tell him to follow. They passed up the dining room in favor of sitting at the marbled island that sat smack dab in the middle of the kitchen.

As they waited for the food to be delivered, Avery asked Derek just what it was that they left Beacon Hills for. He admitted that they went on the search for a mythical relic that would double the owner's power but all they found were dead-ends and figured they were better off without it. When Avery didn't say anything, Derek also admitted he only sought it out because he needed to be stronger if he was going to be taking care of himself and Cora.

As Avery asks what they're going to do now that they're back in town, the doorbell rings and Nik excuses himself to go retrieve their food only to come back into the kitchen mid explanation. Derek tells the room that he now has to speak to Scott to see if he and Cora can join his Pack so they're not classified as Omegas.

Nik passes out plates to the group, finding some amusement in the way it physically pained Derek to ask Scott about joining his Pack and it's then that Avery briefly skims over the details on why Derek and Scott are not exactly friends. Nik, Avery, and Derek each have a couple of slices of meat lovers pizza on their plates as Elijah politely passes the noodles, chicken, and rice to Cora so she can help herself.

"So if Scott lets you join, which you know he will since we all know he's not that knowledgeable with the wolfy business, where you gonna live?" Avery muses before diving into her food.

Cora scowls and stabs a piece of sesame chicken with her chopsticks. "Back at the loft." She pops the chicken in her mouth and chews a bit. "But only if it's still empty."

"And if it's not?" Avery questions.

"Dunno." Derek huffs while wiping away the crumbs from his scruff. He hadn't realized how hungry he'd been. "We were born in Beacon Hills so I really don't want to have to leave."

"I see." Avery mumbled as she continued to eat.

The group lapsed into a silence- enjoying the food they had in front of them before Elijah finally spoke something that had been bugging him for a few minutes.

"If I may ask," He wiped his mouth with a napkin before turning his attention to Cora. "-what is wrong with this loft that has you not wanting to be there?"

"Excuse me?" Cora's brows furrowed.

"Earlier," Elijah went on to explain. "-you explained that you'd be staying at the loft if it were empty yet you scowled when you brought it up and angrily attacked your food."

Avery snorted while Cora managed to see seem a bit sheepish before shrugging and avoided Derek's gaze. "It's all concrete and brick." She told him. "No insulation whatsoever and there's a giant gaping hole in one of the brick walls. It's a home but it doesn't exactly have the home vibe."

Cora went back to her food when she saw her brother's guilty expression- feeling bad herself for making her brother feel bad- and missed the look that Elijah and Nik shared. Avery saw the look they shared, her eyes narrowing in suspicion as she watched the brothers talk with only their eyes.

As Derek avoided any and all eye contact, and Cora busied herself with the remaining noodles on her plate- Avery watched the nods and eye crinkling from the two oldest beings in the room. After another moment of silence, Elijah cleared his throat just as Nik looked up and met Avery's gaze.

"Tell me, love, just how much do you trust these Hales?"

Cora and Derek's head snap up at hearing their family name but before they can look at Avery for her answer, she answers without even batting an eye. "With my life."

Derek gapes, Cora chokes on a noodle, Nik smirks, and Elijah nods with a smile. "I figured as much." And before Derek can ask what trust has to do with anything, Elijah turns to him. "What would you say to living here? In this home."

Derek's eyes widen a bit as he tries to wrap his mind around the sudden turn of events and Cora chokes yet again. "I- I don't.. what?"

"My brother and I will be leaving quite soon." Elijah tells him. "While Beacon Hills is Avery's home, it is not ours so therefore we must leave but," He pauses to make sure that Derek and his sister are following. "-we rather not have to hire a stranger to look after our home. We'd rather have someone trusted living here in our absence."

Derek's mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water as he tries produce words but nothing comes. Cora sits there, her gaze darting between Elijah and her brother to see what he's going to say. Living in this home would be a whole hell of a lot better than the loft on the outskirts of town.

"Uh, D?" Avery nudged his shoulder with her own. "Remember what I told you outside? That very expensive gift? Yeah, this is it. Take it."

Nik snorted at her words and that seemed enough to snap Derek back to the situation in front of him. "I, uh, I don't know what to say." He muttered. "If.. if I were to take you up on this offer, what would be expected of us staying here?"

"Not much." Nik butted in. "All we ask is that you take care of the place and do not move into the rooms myself and my brother have already claimed. Every other room is fair game." He gave a moment for that to sink in before continuing. "We'll be hiring some people who will look after the outside of the home, and we'll also have the bills paid so you don't have to worry about that. The only thing you do have to worry about is buying groceries for the two of you."

"We can do that!" Cora blurted before thinking. When all eyes turned to her, she seemed to shrink in on herself before continuing. "My brother has a bit of money set aside and I- I can get a job after school to help, too!"

Cora seemed excited by the prospect of moving in, as did Avery who kept grinning at him that he didn't want to let his little sister down. Not again. With a huff, Derek nods. "Fine. Yeah, we can do that for you."

Cora is up and out of her seat before anyone knows it and is hugging Derek tightly. Nik smirks at the brother-sister duo while Avery chuckles at them. "Splendid." Elijah claps, gaining their attention. "Just so you know, the deed of the home will have to be switched to your name." He tells Derek. "With the deed in our name- as it is currently- any vampire could stroll on in here without an invite. With the deed in your name- since you're still alive and not the living dead- any vampire will need an invite in. Including my brother and I." Derek sighed but nodded nonetheless. "Excellent. If you will please excuse me, I have a few phone calls to make so we can have those papers drawn up as soon as possible."

As Elijah leaves the room and everyone glances around for another topic to discuss, Avery saves them from the impending silence. "So, Nik, what are you going to do with these leftovers." She gestures to the second half box of pizza they have left and some noodles. When all Nik does is shrug, she pulls out her phone from her back pocket. "Well Stiles wanted left overs from wherever we went but since we came here, I'm telling him to wake his ass up if he wants food." She says as she types out the message. "He apologizes, by the way, for puking in the tub of apples." She snorts a laugh.

"Ah, yes." Nik laughs as well. "That's quite alright. At least he waited until the local newspaper photographer left. Town folk would have thought we supplied alcohol from his little accident."

"Yeah, well, you're the one who continued to feed him bags of candy even when my Dad warned you how he got with so much sugar."

Nik snorted another laugh before he started to gather up the dirtied dishes. "It was well worth the entertainment." He smirked. "Why don't you show this house newest inhabitants around while I clean up and ready myself for your twin's arrival."

..

..

Cora and Derek ended up staying the entire day there with Avery- Stiles having showed up a bit after three in the afternoon to eat their leftovers. Avery did as she had been told, giving Derek and Cora a tour of the house which resulted in Cora choosing her room in the process.

When Stiles had decided to take his leave, Derek had told him to get a hold of Scott because there was something Derek needed to speak with him about soon. Stiles nodded and told him he'd be in touch.

As the day gave away to night, Avery and Cora found Nik and Derek bonding over drinks. A door in the distance opened briefly and then shut- Nik telling them that someone else was with Elijah now. Moments later, Elijah walked in with an official looking elderly man with a leather briefcase in hand.

"We have the deed drawn up." He smiled at the room's occupants. "Mr. Hale, if you will." He gestured to the door and then led them all to the nearest study. As Elijah gestured for him to enter and told Nik to go make sure the signing goes according to plan, Elijah pulled Avery off to the side before she could follow them into the study.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing." He assured her. "It's just that with the deed changing hands now, Nik and I will be taking our leave. We plan to leave in the morning before anyone wakes." Avery frowned but nodded nonetheless. She knew they were bound to leave sooner or later but she had preferred later. "And I just wanted to tell you that should you or the McCall Pack ever find yourself in need of some assistance- call. We will drop everything to keep you safe, little one."

Avery's frown faltered before she threw herself at Elijah, hugging him with everything in her being. Face pressed to his chest, she breathed deeply. "Thank you, 'lijah. For everything."

Only one chapter left. Which is an epilogue of sorts.